Wine Nickname

“Spot-on”

Terroir

County: Mendocino.

Appellation: Mendocino.

Vineyard: Bells Echo Vineyard.

Site Specifics: the vineyard is located three miles west of Hopland and 15 miles east of the Pacific Ocean, in the narrow end of a long valley at an elevation of 575 feet.  The sun ducks behind the western mountain ridge of the valley in the late afternoon, protecting the fruit from extreme western exposure.  Evening ocean breezes provide natural cooling of the vineyard.  This unique microclimate, combined with sustainable farming practices, results in low yield and long hang time that enables the fruit to develop intensity with balance.  The syrah block is planted on an east-west orientation in volcanic soil with sandy loam.  The vines consist of two clones: 174 and 383.

Technique

We waited until October 28th to harvest, picking each clone separately.  20% of each clone lot was left whole cluster.  The balance was destemmed into open top stainless tank that was punched down by hand twice daily. Fermentation was natural, cold, and steady, lasting 21 days with a maximum temperature of 80°F.  Each lot was pressed to neutral French oak barrels (10% new) for completion of malolactic fermentation and aging for 10 months.   As always, we added nothing to the wine except a small amount of SO2 before bottling it in September 2007, unfiltered and unfined.